Practicing Pausing: A Seated Meditation (MBSR Style)

This practice is a guided practice used when teaching MBSR, and of course, you are welcome to use this if you are not a student of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. In this recording, you are guided to explore different anchor points, and as the practice unfolds, there are pockets of silent practice offered.

Transcript

Allow yourself to get settled, Perhaps sitting on a chair, Pillow, Or cushion. Your feet might rest on the floor if you're seated in a chair, Or legs folded if you're seated on the ground. Just allow your hands to rest wherever they naturally land, And perhaps gently allow your eyes to close if that feels comfortable, Or simply lower your gaze. Shifting your attention to feel the support beneath you, The chair, The floor, The cushion, And allow your body to feel held by the support underneath you, The room around you. So in this practice of sitting together, We're cultivating our capacity to be present for our own life. For many of us, This rhythm of daily life asks for constant doing, Responding, Planning, Fixing, Or solving. And in this practice, We set aside time. The usual activity of doing is set aside, And allowing ourselves to simply be. So being right here, Right now. And so you might begin just by noticing that you have intentionally stepped out of the stream of activity for this moment, And simply drawing attention to the fact of being here, Taking that time for awareness. There's nowhere to go, And nothing that you need to accomplish. And so you might gently take inventory of how things are right now. Simply notice, Pause, How are things in this moment? There's no right answer. But taking this time to sit in this way can be understood as a quiet but meaningful gesture in our lives. A willingness to pause. A willingness to meet our experience as it is. So taking a few moments to let our breath and our body settle. There'll be times throughout our practice that I will be intentionally quiet. In this practice, This mindfulness practice, We're cultivating our capacity to be with things, But also to invite patience and curiosity. So when we allow ourselves to be with things as they are, Something interesting begins to happen. We can see more clearly how they are, Which is often quite different from the story that we've been telling ourselves. So this practice invites a kind of honesty with our experience, And it invites kindness. So there's nothing here that needs to be fixed or improved. So in this moment, You're allowed to be just as you are. And if at any time it's too much, You're invited to shift your attention, Open your eyes, Move your body, And take good care of yourself, Keeping yourself into your window of tolerance. So allow your attention to settle on your rhythm of breath. Breathe in and breathing out. Just let your body breathe as it already knows how to do. And you're just watching. Notice where the breath is most vivid to you right now. Maybe you sense the breath at the nose, Or maybe the back of your throat, Maybe as the expansion and softening in your chest, Or your ribs, Or your back. But allow yourself to choose one place, One of these places where the breath feels most clear. And just allow this place to become an anchor where you can rest your attention. You could come back to this place. And if you find this place in the breath does not feel so accessible, You might choose something like your hands resting in your lap, Your feet, Contact point. But let your attention rest at this point. Notice in the silence if your mind wanders, Which minds do. This isn't a problem here. It might drift into memory, Or planning, Or worrying, Or stories. The moment that you notice that the mind has wandered, That's a moment of mindfulness. It's a moment of waking up. So when that happens, Just acknowledge it. And silently, Softly, And kindly bring your attention back, Back into the present moment, Back to your anchor, Your anchor with your breath. You might notice the qualities of breathing. Is your breath long or short? Deep? Shallow? Notice that your body's breathing very effectively. We're going to shift our attention into contact points of where the body's meeting. And this might be where your hands are touching, Resting together in your lap, At your sides. You might feel some contact points where your body is meeting your chair, The floor. Sensing into temperature and pressure, A sense of aliveness. There might be subtle movements. Just notice what's present. Sometimes as we sit quietly, Sensations shift. We might notice itching, Coolness, Warmth, The air. You might notice that these sensations arise, Remain for some amount of time and fade away. A living example of how experience is always changing. If discomfort or pain arises in the body, There are several ways that you might relate to it. You might choose to gently shift your body, Allow the movement itself to become part of that meditation. Or you might choose to bring curiosity to the sensation, Turn towards it with interest. What is the sensation actually like right now? Steady or changing? Sharp or dull? Warm or cool? Pulsing, Vibrating? Often when we look closely, We discover that sensations are more dynamic than we first assumed. And we can remain with this exploration for a few moments. And always we can return to the breath as a place of steadiness or return our attention back to our feet or hands. Now noticing the quality of your attention, Allow your awareness to open again to your whole body sitting and breathing. Notice how different sensations come and go, Sounds and feelings and breath and thoughts. Start to narrow your attention to listening, Taking in sounds, The soundscape around you. Allow awareness to receive sound just as it is. You might notice the internal sounds of your own body, The sounds of breathing or rhythms of the body. But then expanding awareness to external sounds in your environment. Not trying to name the sounds or identify their source, But instead noticing the quality of sound, High or low, Continuous or intermittent, Soft or loud, Near or distant. Allowing each sound to arrive at your ear and then fades, Just hearing. You might notice the space between sounds, Moments of quiet, Allowing awareness to rest in both sound and silence. And if the mind is drawn towards certain sounds or away from others, Just notice that. Notice the movement of the mind, No need to act on it, Just hearing. And just as sounds arise and pass away, Thoughts also arise and pass away. Now shifting attention to the activity of thinking, Rather than becoming engaged in thoughts, Experiment with observing them, Watching them appear in the mind, A thought forming, Remaining for a moment, And then dissolving. Some thoughts may be brief and fleeting. Others may feel compelling, Try to pull us into a story. If you find yourself carried away into a narrative, The moment you notice, That is another moment of waking up. So gently return to observing, Watching thoughts come and go, Much like sounds. Sometimes simply seeing a thought clearly allows it to fade on its own. If no thoughts are present, Simply resting in the quiet space of mind and remaining here, Just observing this activity of thinking. And as you watch thoughts, You might notice that emotions sometimes arise alongside them. You might turn towards whatever emotion is here right now, Curious about its qualities. Is it steady or changing? Does it come and go like waves? You may notice how thoughts can give rise to emotions and how emotions can turn, Generate more thoughts. Simply notice this interplay. Just observing thoughts and emotions as passing events in the field of awareness. And if you find yourself becoming wrapped up in the story, Just again return to the breath or to sensations in the body as an anchor. And then return to observing. Notice thinking, Notice emotions, Allowing all of it to unfold within awareness. Now allowing your attention to open wide, Letting go of any single object of focus, Resting in more open awareness. In this open awareness, The mind may move naturally from one experience to another, Perhaps noticing a sound, And then a sensation in your body, And then a thought, And then a breath, And another sound. Just allow awareness to rest with whatever arises. Just staying with this, Not seeking anything, Not rejecting anything. Simply allow experiences to appear and disappear within awareness. Sometimes it's helpful to imagine awareness like the sky, Open and spacious. Experiences such as sensations and thoughts and emotions can be understood as clouds moving through the sky. Clouds might be light or dark or large or small, Moving quickly or slowly. But the sky itself remains open and capable of holding them all. And in the same way, Awareness can hold all experiences without needing to push anything away. And so just allowing whatever arises to rise and remain for a while and then fade away. So just resting here in this open awareness. Just checking in with the quality of your attention. Notice where your attention has gone. Just allowing your awareness to soften, To notice any way in which you're holding or controlling. Just allowing your experience to unfold as it does. And if you find yourself carried away into a narrative, Just noticing this and gently bringing yourself back to awareness of your senses, Of feeling, Of hearing, Of thinking, And the space between. And again, Checking in with your attention. Just letting go of any single object of focus while knowing that you can always bring attention back to your anchor if it becomes too much. Letting your attention move from sound to sensation to thinking to breathing. Just staying with all of this, Not needing to push any of it away. Just giving permission to experience things just as they are. Just allowing your awareness to rest with whatever arises. Allowing experience to appear, Come, And to go. Now gently starting to guide attention back towards your body, Sensing into your hands or your feet or your seat, Noticing these places that connect. And then gently guide your attention to your breath, Feeling once again the simple rhythm of breathing, The inhale arriving, The exhale releasing. Just one breath at a time. No need to change. Just notice the breath as it comes, As it goes. And as we start to bring our practice today to a close, Just taking a moment to acknowledge the time that you've taken for awareness and sending yourself a sincere thank you. Also recognizing that pausing in this way is not separate from the rest of your life, But part of learning how to meet your life more fully. And so taking these last moments to sense your body sitting here, The support of the ground beneath you, The air moving around you, The space of the room, Letting your breath deepen, Might take a deeper breath in and even a long breath out your mouth. And if your eyes are closed, You might gently let a little light in, Slowly begin to open them. You might blink your eyes a little. Just let your eyes adjust slowly, Gradually. Looking around your room to take in the shapes, The colors, Noticing the quality of the light. Just taking a moment with seeing. You might notice your body and begin to move, Wiggling your fingers and toes, Maybe stretching, Yawning, Reaching. Just taking a stretch to wake up the body. Notice how it is to arrive back into the room, Into your day. I'll invite you to sit upright. Sending your attention towards the practice of gratitude and appreciation, Just for being here. When ready, We'll gently open our eyes and just begin to prepare for the rest of whatever our day may hold. But carrying with us this sense of steadiness and awareness that may be present.